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Michael Clarke will miss Friday’s Twenty20 match against the All-Stars due to a severe viral illness he picked up in India. However, Clarke is expected to be fit for the first Test against New Zealand, which starts in Brisbane next Thursday, and has been named in the Test squad.”Michael Clarke contracted a severe viral illness during the final Test against India in Nagpur and although his condition is improving, he is not well enough to take his place in the Twenty20 game,” Trefor James, the Cricket Australia doctor, said. “His condition will continue to be monitored and we are confident he will recover in time to be available for selection in the first Test.”Michael Hussey will take over the captaincy for the one-off Twenty20 game with Ricky Ponting already being rested following the India tour. Clarke’s illness has provided an opportunity for the Tasmania spinner Xavier Doherty, who has been called into the 12-man Australia squad for the Twenty20 match.Doherty, a left-arm orthodox spinner, toured India with Australia A this year and he has been a consistently strong performer in the domestic one-day and Twenty20 competitions over the past few seasons. Although he has battled to get regular first-class games, Doherty was the equal leading wicket taker in the FR Cup last season and he picked up 4 for 18 in Tasmania’s win in the final.”It is really surprising but I am very excited by the opportunity I have been given,” Doherty said. “I had a message on my phone last night when we got off the field against Victoria and it really came out of the blue. Last night was a bit like Christmas Eve, I had a lot of trouble sleeping and tomorrow should be great.”The Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) All-Stars XI have also made a change to their squad with Ashley Noffke ruled out due to an ongoing back problem. Andrew McDonald, the Victoria allrounder, has been named as Noffke’s replacement.Australia Matthew Hayden, Shaun Marsh, Michael Hussey (capt), David Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson, Cameron White, Brad Haddin (wk), Xavier Doherty, Brett Geeves, Peter Siddle, Shaun Tait.ACA All-Stars XI Adam Gilchrist (capt, wk), Justin Langer, Brad Hodge, Simon Katich, Rob Quiney, Michael Dighton, Dan Marsh, Andrew McDonald, Ryan Harris, Steve Magoffin, Brendan Drew, Dan Cullen.

New Zealand offspinner Jeetan Patel has said his team still has a chance of winning despite Bangladesh scoring 184 for 8 in their second innings and extending their overall lead to 258.”I think it [the match] is poised pretty well,” Patel, who took two wickets in Bangladesh’s second innings, said. “We bowled really well today and brought ourselves back into the match. We have got two wickets to get tomorrow morning and hopefully we’ll get them early and then knock off the runs in the afternoon and on the fifth day.”New Zealand have chased a target above 250 only twice, and their best in away Tests is only 164; however, Patel felt it wouldn’t play on their minds during the chase. “I think we’re in a strong position as well and Bangladesh are not that far ahead. If you look at stats you can say it goes each way,” he said. “The guys know the game plan really well. We’ve worked a few things out and are looking forward to the challenge tomorrow.”New Zealand’s batsmen struggled against the turn and bounce in their first innings, a shortcoming that has frustrated captain Daniel Vettori. “Well, the guys needed to work out their game plans and I think they have. They had a day and a half to do it,” Patel said. “We’ve seen some good batting from the Bangladeshis as well and also the fact that the belief is still there. We’ve got a lot of time to win the game and that’s in our hand.”Patel had made use of the helpful conditions, taking four wickets and offering support to Vettori, who took nine in the match. “It was always going to turn,” he said. “We always expected to come over here and play on spinning wickets.”Patel bowled 19 overs in the day, but 12 out of the 52 runs he conceded came in the final over, when Shakib Al Hasan, who made 71, hit him for three fours on the trot, ample proof the wicket wasn’t as bad as the batsmen had made out to be. “There’s plenty of runs out there,” he said. “A lot of the guys are saying that it’s going up and down but I don’t think the wicket’s that bad. There’s still a little bit of turn there. There’s a little bit of variable bounce but otherwise I think we’ll be in a good position tomorrow to knock this off.”

David Morgan, the ICC president, has confirmed he met with Indian businessman Subhash Chandra to discuss the ICL.Chandra, the chairman of ICL owners Essel Group, was expected to be accompanied by members of the ICL management for the meeting in London. The league is hoping to seek official sanction under Rule 32 of the ICC operations manual which pertains to authorised unofficial cricket.”The ICL had written to the ICC requesting a meeting and today that meeting took place,” Morgan said. “I will now report back the contents of the meeting to the ICC Board, which is gathering in Dubai on 14 and 15 October.”Chandra thanked Morgan and other members of his group – David Becker, ICC’s head of legal, and Jonathan Taylor of the international law firm of Bird and Bird – for attending. He said he hoped the issue of the ICL’s position could be resolved when Morgan presents his findings to the ICC board.Kapil Dev, the chairman of the ICL board, said the ICC’s decision to meet ICL officials was a positive one. “We hope the ICC, for the sake of young cricketers, will look into the matter,” Kapil said. “The BCCI also should consider the matter by having dialogue with the authorities concerned and that’s what we want.”The ICL has been pressing the ICC unsuccessfully for official recognition of their unsanctioned venture for several months. Subsequently they requested the ICC for a meeting, and hinted at legal action if they didn’t accede to the request. The ICC, meanwhile, has held several meetings of a working group it set up early this year to study the legal aspects of unofficial cricket.

Shoaib Akhtar, who was issued an ultimatum by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has now been included in a preliminary 20-man squad for next month’s Canada Cup Four Nation Twenty20 tournament. It was earlier reported that Shoaib would not be eligible to play in Canada after he was left out of Islamabad’s squad for the upcoming National Twenty20 tournament, but the , a local daily, said the selectors have included his name for Canadian visa purposes.”The fine is purely a legal matter which is being sorted out,” PCB’s chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi told PTI. “But we want Shoaib to play in the Twenty20 championship so that the selectors can judge his form and fitness.”The PCB also sought advice from the Lahore High Court on whether it can allow Shoaib to return to competitive cricket even if he delays paying the outstanding fine, but his lawyers have reportedly assured the board that the issue will be resolved soon. Bilal Minto, Shoaib’s lawyer, said: “There is no problem with paying the fine but we feel that since the case is in court we can wait for the court to reach a decision and than if it says pay the fine we will pay it. It is not a real issue.”The squad is expected to be trimmed to 15 for the Toronto series, which runs from October 10-13. Pakistan will leave for Canada on October 8.Meanwhile Shoaib Malik, Pakistan’s captain, said he and his team-mates were keen to play international cricket given the drought in the country. “We haven’t played any competitive cricket in the last several weeks and are itching to get back into action. The National Twenty20 Cup will provide us an excellent opportunity to regain our form and rhythm before the four-nation event. Twenty20 is a very unpredictable format and you can’t take any opposition for granted.”Pakistan’s last international series was the Asia Cup at home earlier this summer. They were supposed to host the ICC Champions Trophy in September but the tournament was postponed due to security concerns.

Division Two

Gareth Rees stroked a fine 126 for Glamorgan on the first day against Derbyshire at Derby, pushing the visitors to a respectable 257 for 8 at stumps. Rees aside, however, there was little else from Glamorgan, apart from a typically gutsy 37 from Robert Croft. It could have been so much better for Derbyshire had Tom New held onto a straightforward catch off Jon Clare, the pick of the bowlers, when Rees was on 25. Nevertheless, Derbyshire’s seamers probed consistently and once Tom Lungley held onto a fine catch to dismiss Jamie Dalrymple, Glamorgan were tottering on 84 for 4. Rees found good support from Mark Wallace, and later Croft, as he moved to his third hundred against Derbyshire from 242 balls. He finally fell to Graham Wagg, bowling offspinners in the late-afternoon gloom.Half-centuries from Daryl Mitchell and Vikram Solanki gave Worcestershire hope that they will cope with life after Graeme Hick, on the first day against Warwickshire at New Road. Hick, who announced his retirement today, was ruled out owing to an elbow injury but the home side fought hard in his absence, with Mitchell and Solanki putting on 129 for the second wicket. Solanki, who avoided the ignominy of three successive Championship ducks, was dropped by Darren Maddy at second slip but kept his resolve to register the pair’s hundred partnership. Mitchell, meanwhile, had played neatly for his 79 before pushing forward tentatively to Neil Carter. And Carter fought back for Warwickshire to remove Ben Smith and Moeen Ali in the same over, but Solanki remained unbeaten on 86 at stumps to leave Worcestershire in command.

The ICC’s decision to go ahead with the Champions Trophy in Pakistan has drawn sharp criticism from players’ associations in non-Asian countries, with South African cricketers leading the criticism of a decision backed by their own board. The reactions have mirrored concerns voiced at the meeting, with reports from Australia and New Zealand suggesting that their top players might not attend the tournament.The ICC, on its part, has waived penalties for player pull-outs.”The South African team are very disappointed with today’s decision and remain extremely concerned about safety and security in Pakistan,” Tony Irish, chief executive of the South African Cricketers’ Association, told . “We hope Cricket South Africa (CSA) will sit down with us and talk to us about whether they are seriously considering sending a team to the Champions Trophy in Pakistan or not.”Paul Marsh, the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) chief executive, was also disappointed with the decision. “We’ve gone through this with a fine-tooth comb and we don’t think the risk to go to Pakistan is acceptable,” he said on Friday. “I am very hopeful Cricket Australia will make that decision. It would be unfair to put that decision back on the players and it would be inconsistent to put that decision back on players given what’s happened in the past.”Marsh said despite the ICC’s measures, the ACA would maintain its recommendation to Australia’s cricketers not to play in Pakistan.Cricket Australia spokesperson Peter Young told the : “We’re not willing to send our players or team officials anywhere that is not safe. We will always reserve the right to put player welfare first.”An ECB spokesman was quoted by as saying it would have “further extensive discussions” with key stakeholders – including England players and Team England – following which the ECB “will be in a position to make a clear decision.”Kevin Pietersen has said he has concerns about travelling to Pakistan: “The ECB are coming together on – I think – August 3 or 4, having spoken to [chief executive] David Collier this morning, and he reassured me that the decision will probably be taken out of the players’ hands, which is great.”I really hope the players don’t have to take the lead, to be totally honest. But I don’t know, we’ll see the outcome of that meeting, whatever the decision is. If it’s taken out of the players’ hands then great. If not, then I’ll certainly make a decision.”Officials from Australia, New Zealand and England are believed to have informed the ICC board, which conducted a teleconference on Thursday to confirm the venue, that their players were concerned about the security situation in Pakistan and may decide to pull out of the tournament, which starts on September 11.New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said on Friday in a press release that it “is talking” to its players about the security situation in Pakistan following the ICC board’s decision to go ahead with the tournament.

“NZC is talking to the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association (NZCPA) about player safety and security concerns following the ICC’s overnight decision that the Champions Trophy remain in Pakistan,” the NZC said. Justin Vaughan, the chief executive of NZC, said he would also discuss player concerns with the board as well as the safety and security reports upon which the decision was based.NZCPA executive manager Heath Mills had earlier slammed the proposal to go ahead with the tournament in Pakistan. “We believe this is a poor ICC decision … we can’t see how they have put player safety as their No. 1 priority and this is very disappointing,” Mills told New Zealand-based . “Our recommendation to our players is not to travel to Pakistan at this point in time. There isn’t one player I have spoken to who is comfortable about travelling to Pakistan at the moment.”The decision, though, was welcomed unequivocally by Pakistan’s captain Shoaib Malik. “It would have been a great loss for Pakistan cricket had the Champions Trophy been taken away from here,” Malik told . “I’m thankful to the cricket world for taking a decision that is great for the sport in this country.”Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said in Colombo that players opting to pull out would not be penalised, nor would their boards. He hoped the task force formed to assess the security ahead of the tournament would be able to convince players. “This is not something I treat lightly but we can manage it,” Lorgat said. “We will use this task team to ensure that we properly communicated with players who have concerns. We are making sure FICA is a part of the process to understand the situation.””We have to separate perception from reality. We will do our utmost to assure them that we would not go into an event where safety or security is going to be compromised.”We need to gain trust as event organizers,” Lorgat said, “and will do everything possible to ensure their safety and security.”

Dilip Vengsarkar, India’s chairman of selectors, has stressed the need to reduce the number of one-day games in order to tackle the issue of player burnout. Instead of cutting down on Tests per tour, Vengsarkar said ODIs had to be targetted.”We play around five to seven ODI games on every tour,” Vengsarkar told the . “This takes away 14 to 20 days. Personally, these two-Test series do not make much sense to me. It should either be three or five.” The proposed itinerary for England’s tour of India in November includes seven ODIs and two Tests.Vengsarkar also wanted the international schedule to be eased so that national players could participate in domestic cricket. “During most of the domestic matches I watched last season, there were not more than ten people witnessing the matches. You need international stars to take part in domestic cricket to raise the standard. Otherwise it would become very hard to judge quality and temperament for Test cricket. But where do the international cricketers have the time in a packed calendar?”Mahendra Singh Dhoni recently chose to pull out of the Test series in Sri Lanka because he needed a break and Vengsarkar said player fatigue had become a global problem. “The stronger nations have to honour their commitments against the weaker sides as well. But how do you accommodate so many matches? Test cricket should not suffer.”Vengsarkar dismissed the idea that the Indian Premier League had thrown up fresh talent to pick from. “Twenty20 is an exciting and popular format but tell me five cricketers from the IPL who can play for India? A lot of players got exposure but are they good enough to play for India. Only Manpreet Gony, you could say to a certain extent, was a find from the IPL. Players like Yusuf Pathan were in the frame even before the IPL. Test cricket will produce players for Twenty20, not the other way round.”

Plans for a Twenty20 Champions League this autumn could already be in trouble because of the insistence of Lalit Modi, the IPL’s commissioner, that no player with links to the rival ICL will be allowed to take part.The chairmen of several English counties have demanded clarification over the eligibility of such individuals. Cricinfo has been told by other reliable sources of an agreement under which ICL-contracted players can take part.”The situation is blurred,” Surrey’s chief executive, Paul Sheldon, told Cricinfo. “No one can fully explain it at the moment, so we are waiting for clarification. Until we have clarification we are going to play the best side that we can to make sure we get to the finals and have that chance of going through to the Champions’ League.”The two finalists of this season’s domestic Twenty20 Cup will qualify for the Twenty20 Champions League. As things stand only three counties – Essex, Middlesex and Somerset -have no ICL players in their squads, although as many as five more may not field ICL players in their squads.Originally, the IPL, backed by the Indian board, demanded that no ICL-contracted players be allowed to take part in any cricket anywhere in the world. But while some boards fell into line, the ECB’s tough approach vis-a-vis the counties gradually fell apart, largely through legal threats, and by early May every ICL player who had signed with a county side was free to play.Counties are increasingly concerned that if they do as Modi demands and omit ICL players then they risk being sued. If they don’t, Modi will block them from taking part. “If they ban the counties, about 15 out of 18 will be ineligible,” Tom Sears, Derbyshire’s chief executive, told The Guardian. “I can’t see the ECB agreeing to a tournament on those terms.”The ECB appears to be caught in the crossfire – keen to cooperate with Modi and the IPL but under increasing pressure from the counties. On Sunday Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, insisted that the counties were aware of the board’s position that ICL players may be banned from participating in the final. They counter that the ECB has failed to offer clear guidance at any stage of the process.The chairmen also want clarification over Modi’s statement that IPL contracts take precedence over any others in the case of a player who represents more than one side involved in the tournament.Again, that contradicts what Cricinfo has been told, and it seems that it could all come down to a power struggle and Modi seeks to increase the IPL’s control..While the issue will not arise until the autumn, counties need to know that the side they pick in matches which start this week will be the one they can turn out later in the year should they qualify.The outcome will not only give the counties an idea of where they stand and what they need to do, it will clarify just how powerful Modi and the Indian board are in terms of the global game.

Rahul Dravid, the former Indian captain, felt one-day cricket will be the sore loser especially in the aftermath of Twenty20 cricket’s tremendous success worldwide. He said the busy international schedule could force the number of one-dayers to be reduced.”There is a limited amount of time. Twenty20 cricket is popular now so something has to give”, Dravid said at a discussion forum organised to unveil the Castrol Asian Cricket awards, to be announced during the Asia Cup in Pakistan which starts this month. Dravid, Wasim Akram and Sanath Jayasuriya are part of the panel that will oversee the process that will pick the winners in various categories.Dravid, who captained the Bangalore Royal Challengers during the Indian Premier League (IPL), said he understood the decision to hold the Twenty20 World Cup every two years and the IPL once a year. But he hoped Test cricket would not be severely affected. “The number of one-day games might get reduced,” he said. “I hope they don’t reduce Test matches, too.”Asked if Asia could match its strong financial muscle with on-field cricketing prowess, all three had no doubt the subcontinent would soon rise to become the undisputed superpower.Akram, the former Pakistan captain, felt India could dominate through on-field performances too. “India could well rule the world in the next few years,” Akram said. Jayasuriya said though the Asian nations have the talent, the challenge lies in channeling this talent in the right direction. “We are the financial powerhouse of cricket. Now we need the support to direct the talent in the right direction.”Dravid’s view was more circumspect. “Just because we have the opportunities it doesn’t mean we will rule the world. Opportunities have always been there. The challenge is to harness the talent. The number of off-shore events that you had earlier in 50-overs cricket might be reduced to accommodate a few more Twenty20 tournaments or Twenty20 World Cup every two years, or the IPL every year or some other tournament.”

Veteran middle order batsman Aravinda de Silva will miss the first half of Sri Lanka’s tour of Australia after requesting leave for personal reasons.De Silva, Sri Lanka’s highest one-day run scorer, who will retire from all cricket after the World Cup, will be unavailable for the first three games of the VB Series against Australia and England."Aravinda has sent a letter to the selectors, requesting leave for the opening part of VB Series," confirmed team manager Ajit Jayasekera from Bloemfontein on Friday.De Silva, now 37, who was recalled to Sri Lanka’s one-day side in August, scored 91 runs at 18.2 in Sri Lanka’s five-match series against South Africa.Sri Lanka’s three-man selection panel, headed by former Sri Lanka wicket-keeper Guy de Alwis, was due to pick a 16-man squad for Australia earlier in the week but will now finalise selection on Monday when the team returns to Colombo.Wicket-keeper batsman Romesh Kaluwitharana is being seriously considered as de Silva’s replacement despite not being included in Sri Lanka’s provisional 30-man squad for the World Cup.Kaluwithrana’s international career looked to be over when that squad was announced but pressure is now being put on the selectors to reconsider theirdecision after a string of impressive domestic performances.Star off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan will be included in the squad but is also due to sit out the opening games as he recovers from a hernia operation.